Burl Ives blasts back onto the Billboard Hot 100 chart (dated Dec. 3), as his holiday standard “A Holly Jolly Christmas” re-enters the ranking at No. 10.
The track’s revival can be attributed to annual gains for yuletide hits during the holiday season. The song debuted on the Hot 100 during the 2016 holiday season, 52 years after its release, and has re-entered every year since. The song first hit a No. 4 high over the 2019 holidays, and has returned to its peak in each of the last two years. This year is especially notable in that it brings the song’s highest re-entry, as it becomes the first holiday song ever to re-enter in the top 10.
How rare is it for songs to return to the Hot 100 all the way in the top 10? Pretty rare. In the chart’s 64-year history, “A Holly Jolly Christmas” is just the ninth song to re-enter directly in the top 10.
Generally, songs make steady runs up and down the Hot 100, though in more recent years it’s become more common for titles to debut at high ranks thanks to splashy streaming debuts and then decline, with many also regaining their footing on the chart as their radio airplay solidifies.
Hot 100 rules prevent most catalog titles from returning or debuting if below No. 50. Descending titles are removed from the Hot 100 after 20 weeks on the chart if below No. 50 or after 52 weeks if below No. 25. To re-enter after having graduated to recurrent status, a song must garner enough chart points, with a notable reason for its resurgence.
This is all to say that, for older titles, it’s generally difficult to re-enter the Hot 100 and compete with newer songs generating hefty radio airplay and streaming figures. It’s even tougher to suddenly re-enter in the top 10.
The select songs that have achieved the feat of re-entering the Hot 100 in the top 10 have, for the most part, gained newfound interest after artists were prominently in the news, performed on massive stages or scored a notable synch, as Kate Bush did earlier this year when “Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)” was featured in Netflix’s Stranger Things.
Here’s a look at all nine songs that have re-entered the Hot 100 in the top 10, listed chronologically:
Additional reporting by Gary Trust
Artist Billing, Title, Chart Date (Hot 100 Re-entry Rank):
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LL Cool J feat. Jennifer Lopez, "Control Myself," April 29, 2006 (No. 4)
“Control Myself” first spent three weeks on the Hot 100, never reaching higher than No. 89, before falling off the chart. After the release of parent album Todd Smith, and “Control Myself” as a digital download a month later, the track re-entered the Hot 100 at No. 4, becoming the first top 10 re-entry in the chart’s history.
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The Chicks, "Not Ready to Make Nice," March 3, 2007 (No. 4)
The Chicks were absent from the Hot 100 for three years before the song debuted. The trio drew pushback following Natalie Maines’ comments about George W. Bush during a concert performance in London in 2003. When the group finally returned with “Not Ready to Make Nice,” which references its exile, the song reached No. 23 in May 2006, largely from download sales, as the group was essentially barred from country radio. After the song fell off the chart, the act performed it at the 49th Grammy Awards and it won for record and song of the year and best country performance by a duo or group with vocal. The buzz around the trophy wins and the group’s performance – and fans’ support for the band – sparked the song’s re-entry at No. 4, The Chicks’ highest rank to-date.
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Whitney Houston, "I Will Always Love You," Feb. 25, 2012 (No. 7)
Whitney Houston‘s cover of Dolly Parton’s classic spent a then-record 14 weeks at No. 1 on the Hot 100 in 1992-93. It returned to the top 10 at No. 7 following her death in 2012 from an accidental drowning. The ballad jumped to No. 3 the following week and fell to No. 30 before dropping off the chart. It earned Houston her highest placement on the list since March 1999, when “Heartbreak Hotel,” featuring Faith Evans and Kelly Price, reached No. 2.
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Florida Georgia Line feat. Nelly, "Cruise," April 20, 2013 (No. 8)
“Cruise” became a debut smash for Florida Georgia Line before Nelly hopped on its remix. The original recording reached No. 16 on the Hot 100 in December 2012 – and No. 1 on Hot Country Songs – in a run that ran through the following February. Two months later, the Nelly remix dropped. The song re-entered the Hot 100 at No. 8 and subsequently crossed to pop and adult radio, spurring its new No. 4 peak in July 2013.
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Lady Gaga, "Million Reasons," Feb. 25, 2017 (No. 4)
“Million Reasons” was a modest chart hit for Lady Gaga before she performed the track at the Super Bowl LI halftime show, originally reaching No. 52 on the Hot 100 in December 2016. After she added the ballad to her Super Bowl setlist, it re-entered at its No. 4 peak, becoming her 10th top 10, of 17 to-date. (The song’s comeback mirrored that of the New England Patriots the same night, as the team overcame a daunting 28-3 deficit to the Atlanta Falcons to win 34-28 in overtime.)
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Juice WRLD, "Lucid Dreams," Dec. 21, 2019 (No. 8)
Juice WRLD‘s breakthrough single re-entered the Hot 100 at No. 8 following his death from a drug overdose on Dec. 8, 2019. The song, which samples Sting’s 1993 track “Shape of My Heart,” peaked at No. 2 in October 2018 and, upon its return, added a 26th total week in the top 10.
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The Weeknd, "Blinding Lights," Jan. 9, 2021 (No. 3)
The Weeknd‘s four-week Hot 100 No. 1 – and, ultimately, the reigning title on the Greatest of All Time Hot 100 Songs chart – revisited the weekly list at No. 3, making it the highest re-entry yet, after holiday hits pushed many then-current titles off the chart temporarily. The song was gone only for a week – interrupting its eventual 90-week record run on the chart (as it placed below No. 25 that week after over a year on the chart) – and returned as current hits soared back to the top 10, a week after holiday songs infused the tier exclusively. (Notably, “Blinding Lights,” “Lucid Dreams” and “I Will Always Love You” are the only songs among these eight to not post a new Hot 100 peak in their returns to the top 10.)
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Kate Bush, "Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)," June 11, 2022 (No. 8)
Bush’s 1985 single, which originally reached No. 30 that year, re-entered the Hot 100 at a new No. 8 best fueled by its placement in Stranger Things, before peaking at No. 3. “‘Running Up That Hill’ is being given a whole new lease of life by the young fans who love the show – I love it too!” Bush said upon the alt classic’s chart return. “It’s all really exciting! Thanks very much to everyone who has supported the song.”
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Burl Ives, “A Holly Jolly Christmas,” Dec. 3, 2022 (No. 10)
Ives’ holiday standard re-entered the Hot 100 at No. 10 after climbing as high as No. 4. The late entertainer’s holiday legacy is also bolstered by the beloved 1964 animated special Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer – featuring “A Holly Jolly Christmas” – for which he provided the narration in the role of Sam the Snowman (who was designed to resemble the jolly Ives).